I was posting some comments on Reddit, in the “Privacy” subreddit, about better privacy options than Android or iOS—like GrapheneOS. I just received a message from the bot deleting my posts that mentioned GrapheneOS or other privacy-friendly operating systems. I accept this, since I’m not the owner of the subreddit. But with all due respect, what’s the point of having a place to discuss privacy if comments recommending great privacy-focused OS alternatives get deleted? I don’t get it.

It seems like people in that community want privacy, but apparently not enough to have an open discussion about alternatives. Sure, some people might disagree—that’s normal in any discussion! Should we stop talking about the NSA because some people support what they do? I doubt anyone would suggest that.

Am I missing something here? Maybe I just don’t understand the reasoning.

  • I kinda get why the GrapheneOS developers don’t want their product discussed on reddit: Imagine you’re searching for a problem with GrapheneOS and the only thing popping up is a Reddit thread. They don’t want their users having to go there as the “only” option to get their problem fixed

  • null_dot ( null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) 
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    2 years ago

    Doesn’t the message you received basically say the graphene devs don’t want it discussed in /r/privacy ?

    If I were involved in a project with any sort of following I wouldn’t want it discussed in a large, general, subreddit either. If it is, you either need to engage with people there to minimise any misinformation, or you just have to let people spread nonsense about your product.

    That said, asking why /r/privacy exists when the devs of privacy-related projects don’t want to participate is a good question. The answer is, the mods are fief lords who would rather preside over a sham than nothing at all.

    Honestly, I can’t think of any good reason to be a moderator of /r/privacy on reddit

    • petaqui ( petaqui@lemmings.world ) OP
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      2 years ago

      It is funny because the post doesn’t mention that they don’t want to be discussed through Reddit or that community, in particular.

      They said that they were moving away from Reddit with their own community because it was really difficult to keep it up with all the blocks, bans, and a lot of issues with the topics that they were discussing, and with users being blocked because they were using VPNs or the Tor network.

      So they don’t say that they don’t want to discuss things on Reddit, they just said that they were moving away for their own community.

      It is funny because freedom means that if you meet with your friends in a bar, and you want to discuss Donald Trump, as an example, does that mean that you shouldn’t talk about Trump in a bar because Trump said that he doesn’t want to be discussed in that table? (He didn’t say so I believe, it’s just a random idea)

      No, you can talk about Trump because we live in a freedom world where you can talk with your friends or with colleagues or whoever you want, about the things that you want as long as you don’t hurt anyone or you don’t talk shit about that thing. Isn’t it?

  • Google is a Reddit partner now, so they probably don’t want discussion of anything that removes them from the loop, thus privacy is very limited to “privacy from everyone but Google” or whatever corporate blob is currently funding Reddit. This is why Reddit is dead to me, basically it is now all about profit and communities can only exist if they contribute to that goal.

    • petaqui ( petaqui@lemmings.world ) OP
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      2 years ago

      You are right, I didn’t read the rules. But, as you said, I should be able as it isn’t an illegal topic mentioning privacy orientated os. Should I read every line of rule of each and everything I buy/use? Definitely. Do I? Nope, and I don’t think anyone does as we usually tend to apply common sense. And again, you are right, but I think, as that’s the point of my post, it is nonsense having that rule in a privacy forum. It is like not being able to mention chocolate in a bakery.

    • utopiah ( utopiah@lemmy.ml ) 
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      2 years ago

      A group having rule is fine, in fact it’s needed for the group to sustain over time.

      Unfortunately if this group is hoarding a resources, here a very popular meeting point for people who (in theory) care about “privacy” then the rule itself does not have to be “fair” or “right”.

      So sure, when joining a group one must aware of the rules of said group, but it does not in itself means the rules of that group are automatically correct. I’m not saying here the rule is fine (I do have a personal opinion about it) but rather that this kind of event if precisely canary in the coalmine showing the genuine nature of the group, not what its name claims to be.

      • Your complaint is genuine and I assure you that the sentiment is shared amongst many people here. I do not like that sub for its excessively tight policies. You must also consider that Reddit has its eye on that sub since it might spread awareness to other Reddit users and harm Reddit’s bottom line.

        Either way, I stick to Lemmy and Kbin. Reddit doesn’t let me create accounts over TOR and I2P anymore, which means I’m not going to be able to participate anyway.

  • Vanth ( Vanth@reddthat.com ) 
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    2 years ago

    Reddit purged their volunteer mod base for exactly this reason. Some company asks them to change moderation to accommodate them, reddit complies without having to deal with pesky, independent human mods who might argue against the censorship.

  • I got perma-banned and modmail-muted for talking about the rule, not the OS itself. The moderators are a bunch of absolute fucks and don’t give a single shit either. I did not break the rule, but got perma-banned. Then got perma-banned from Reddit for “ban evasion” because I messaged the moderators about my wrongful subreddit ban. My appeal was denied. Fuck em.

  • To be honest, the explanation given in the screenshot makes sense. Whilst it’s frustrating, if the mods have had past problems with arguments over OSes (and there are dedicated subs for them), I can somewhat understand the reason for the rule.

  • Recently there was a discussion about an r/privacy mod, carrotcypher. they have been mod on that sub since before the reddit exodus but they are making very strange decisions, to put it lightly. maybe this is their work too